New York, New Start
by neradia3
Summary: Slight crossover w/ Dark Angel, mostly SVU - Amanda Rollins finds a strange girl sitting outside her apartment building and decides to take her in. (season 15)
1. Remi 1

Remi didn't really know what time it was. She didn't have a watch on her or anything. All she knew was that the sun was setting, and it was getting late. Manhattan at a late hour, alone by herself wasn't the best match-up. But she couldn't really help it. She had no place to go, no place to stay. She'd been hiding out in churches for the past week since she arrived in New York. Luckily, no one had noticed. This time, she wasn't near any churches, at least in walking distance, and she didn't feel comfortable taking the subway. Creeps took the subway. She knew how to defend herself, training to do so practically up until five years ago, but the subway was no place for a twelve-year-old. Neither were the streets of Manhattan, yet here she was.

An hour before, she'd gotten into a fight, one she didn't plan on initiating. Of course, she won the fight. How could she not with her enhanced cat-like abilities? She didn't really have a choice in the matter whether or not she should step in. Some men were hurting a young girl, held a gun to her head in an alley. Weird for the early evening.

_Welcome to New York_, she told herself.

The men didn't put up a good fight. They were too slow for her, and her training skills kicked in. She dodged smoothly and quickly. They didn't stand a chance. In the midst of the fight, they did manage to land a few punches. That mixed with being dehydrated and starved, plus still recovering from having a seizure a few days before tired her out. By the time she was just about done, the girl had already fled. Out of anger, the men took her small backpack, which held not only left-over cash she somehow acquired, but the pills that kept her seizures at bay.

With a cut-up face, bloody knuckles, and presence that wasn't one-hundred percent there, she sat outside an apartment building on the steps. She hoped that maybe someone who lived in the apartments would allow her to stay with them for the night. The people that'd passed by her so far didn't really care for a twelve-year-old girl, who also happened to be a former badass soldier in training until 2009. She figured nothing less from New York. She should've picked somewhere else to go that was a lot better, significantly lower crime rates. But New York was crowded. There was no way Lydecker and the rest of Manticore could find her all the way across the country from a new base outside of Seattle. She was free from him. No more training. No more brainwashing. No more field work.

She rubbed her eyes with her knuckles. She couldn't stop thinking about what would have been if they never escaped, her and some of her brothers and sisters. Before then, she'd never seen the outside world, and her first encounter with it wasn't all that fun. There was a lot of confusion and screaming. She was by herself as her siblings all went separate ways. A seven-year-old being out in the real world by herself was overwhelming on its own.

As the sun was just about to set, she thought it would be best to find herself a church to sleep in for the night, even thought she knew there were none near by. Yet, she somehow convinced herself that she could find one anyway. She was about to stand from the steps when she heard footsteps from around the corner. The first person that may cross paths with her in almost two hours. She thought that New York would be crawling with people, but some spots must be empty. This was one of those spots. Either that or it just wasn't late enough yet for people to come out of their apartments and take trips to bars.

She leaned forward to see who was walking down this way. She waited until they turned the corner and... She sighed. Just a blonde woman and her dog. They were probably gonna pass right by the building as the woman was walking her dog. She learned back on the west coast that people do that so their dog could do their business and get some much needed exercise. They didn't do that for the German Shepherds back at Manticore, at least not that she knew of. Those dogs made her hate dogs, or maybe it was what the dogs were commanded to do. On the night of their escape, Manticore employees had those dogs on leashes, the dogs tracking down the escaped X5's. All she heard was barking and barking, and she knew that no matter how far away she was, the barking would always remind her of how close she was to the facility.

The blonde slowed down her walk as she approached the building, and her dog started to bark probably because it smelled animal. It smelled Remi, a young girl who was made half cat through science. She was the product of science. She'd tell her siblings that they should be proud that they're something that the average human could never create.

The barking of her dog only reminded her of those German Shepherds chasing her down, along with her other siblings. She could only stare at it, watching it as it excitedly pushed towards the steps. Instead of a nice house dog, she saw herself in those woods, surrounded by echoing barks. It made her feel like she could never escape, yet somehow she did. The weakest one in the unit somehow escaped, playing hide and seek up in the trees until they were left to think she already hopped the fence that surrounded the facility.

"Frannie, stay back. Come on. We're home now." A voice snapped her awake, so did something wet. Remi focused her eyes in front of her. The dog was sniffing her hand, which she pulled back in a hurry. She was going to bite it off. Lydecker said that dogs hate cats. That was why he always sent out dogs to the field if they were doing something wrong or to herd them back to the facility after the field work was over. But this dog, this tan lump of short fur, found her hand again. She sniffed her hand, then started licking it. And wow, was it the best feeling she'd ever felt. It was wet, but it gave her a tickling sensation, made the hairs on the back of her neck stand, right near her barcode. She didn't come to notice that the poor dog was licking the blood off her hands. Instead of attacking her, she was healing her.

"Frannie, stop." Frannie didn't listen. She just kept on licking. Remi was glad that she was. It was less for her to clean off herself later. To encourage her to keep licking, healing, Remi used her other hand to pet Frannie. That one wasn't stained with blood. She lifted her head up to meet with ocean blue eyes of the blonde. The woman parted her lips, a reaction to the cuts on Remi's face.

Remi gave the woman a soft smile, weak, but she didn't show it. "It's okay. Your Frannie girl is healing me."

The woman tilted her head to the side as her eyes moved between Remi and Frannie. Frannie sat down on the step next to Remi, her tail swishing back and forth. The German Shepherds' tails never did that. Was that what dogs did when they were happy?

"Look, I really need to get to my apartment. I had a pretty rough day, a long one at that." She tugged on Frannie's leash, and Frannie stood. She stopped licking Remi's hand too, much to her dismay. "I'm glad you got your dog fix or whatever, but..." The blonde sighed. "It's getting late. You should head home, kid."

If only this woman knew, Remi didn't want to go home. The only home she'd ever known was at Manticore, and she felt sick because in that moment, she couldn't believe that she actually considered it to be a home. No, Manticore was hell. Besides Manticore, there was nothing else. No where else she could truly call home.

The woman went up the stairs, Frannie tagging along behind her. Maybe this woman would let her stay in her apartment. If the dog trusted her, so should she, unless that wasn't how it worked. Remi stood and turned rather quickly, a dizzy spell haunting her, casting over her eyes and body. She was in a tunnel now. She almost forgot that the last time she ate was a few days ago. Her blood sugar was probably low. She didn't have much water in her system, and that'd make her drop.

Remi grabbed on to the worn metal railing of the steps. "Wait." Her hand gripped tightly on to the metal, her knuckle practically turning white.

She looked over her shoulder, and Remi could see the sudden shift from annoyed to concerned. "You okay?"

"I just need somewhere to crash." Hopefully it would be more comfortable than the barracks she was kept in with her siblings, the one she slept in for seven years, if this woman agreed to pity her and invite her into her home. She didn't know who this woman was, how she reacted to weak kids living on the streets. If she'd be willing to help them find their place. From what Remi had seen of her so far, she still wasn't sure. She didn't even know if she could fully trust this woman, just because she was the owner of a kind dog. Who else was she supposed to turn to? She was standing on one leg, ready to fall over with a single push. "I promise I'll be out of your hair in the morning."

The woman sighed. There was something pulling at her, Remi could tell. She was conflicted, biting the inside of her cheek, probably questioning if it was a good idea to bring a random girl into her apartment. Or if she should just call someone, fingers crossed that it wouldn't be the police if she decided to do so. "I don't feel comfortable inviting a kid I just met into my apartment. Hell, I don't even know your name."

"Remi." Her siblings gave her that name. She remembered that. She didn't feel human without it.

"Remi," the woman repeated, then shook her head. Frannie started getting antsy, sitting still for too long. She whimpered and padded her front paws against the concrete of the steps. "If you want, I can call the local hospital, and have an ambulance pick you up. They'll be able to help you better than I can, considering your condition."

Remi's breath hitched in her throat at the mention of a hospital. She knew well that she couldn't go there. They'd find out that she was different through her DNA and contact the government, maybe poke her with needles. She was a scientific creation that no one had ever seen before. People were cruel. It was unfortunate that she had to learn that the hard way, through countless hours of aggressive training being led by a man with no heart or consideration that her, her unit, and many others were people too. "I... I can't."

"What do you mean 'you can't'?" The woman was growing impatient, gripping Frannie's leash tighter, fiddling with the keys to her apartment in the other. It made Remi feel like she was being rushed. She couldn't just explain that she wasn't human in the matter of seconds. She'd be pressed with questions. The hows and whys.

"Please, just understand that sending me to a hospital is probably the worst thing you can do right now. If you let me inside, I'll explain. I just—" Remi's knees buckled under her, but she was able to keep herself up-right because of the railing.

"You really don't have anywhere else to go?" she asked. "No parents? No guardians that you can go to?"

This blonde actually believed that there was a possibility that Remi had parents she could run home to? It almost made her laugh. Having real parents was a dream of Remi's. Same for some of her siblings that wanted nothing to do with becoming the next superior soldier. Some didn't really care. While the rest truly thought that it was their duty. Disgusting.

"You know, you're really funny," Remi said, a sarcastic tone in her voice, which received an eye-roll from the woman. "No. I wouldn't be asking you if I did. I wish I did, but some people are just unlucky."

She smiled a little and held her hand out towards Remi—the one holding Frannie's leash. "Take her, and I'll help you inside."

Remi grabbed the leash and followed the woman's gesture to climb up the rest of the stairs towards her. She took slow steps, clinging to the railing with one hand, fading in and out of the tunnel with each step. To her surprise, she got to the single platform at the door without tripping over herself, safely tucked under the woman's wing as she buzzed herself in.

"I'm Amanda, by the way. Just so you know who I am before I bring you into my apartment building." She opened the door and guided Remi and Frannie inside.

Remi looked over at the woman, Amanda, trying her best to ignore all the little noises coming from each apartment they passed by. They were noises that she knew Amanda couldn't possibly hear. To her, Remi knew it was quiet. "Nice to meet you." _Despite the circumstances._


	2. Amanda 1

_"Benson."_

"Hey. It's Amanda."

_"I know. But Rollins, are you aware of what time it is?"_

Amanda glanced at the clock in the kitchen. 1:30 A.M. Her eyes went back to the young girl laying on her couch, Remi. She was sleeping, a blanket laid over top of her. Amanda should be doing that right now. Sleeping. She planned on going into the precinct early tomorrow, but she wanted to keep her eye on Remi.

When she brought her into her apartment, Remi almost passed out. Luckily, she didn't. Amanda was able to keep her up-right long enough to get her to the couch. She sat Remi down, poured her some water in a glass, which Remi downed in one gulp. Amanda heated up two slices of left-over cheese pizza from the night before and gave that to Remi too. She must've been really hungry because she asked for more once she finished the two slices. But before she brought two more slices over, Amanda found Remi asleep. The poor girl needed it. She draped a blanket over Remi and took the slices back to the kitchen, ate them herself.

From the kitchen, she watched Remi laying still on the couch. Frannie pattered her claws against the hard wood between where Amanda stood in the kitchen and Remi, eventually deciding to sit beside the couch, staring at her.

Amanda only wondered why Frannie liked Remi so much. She didn't usual act so friendly with people she'd just met. Yet, dogs are dogs. They have their reasons. It was none of Amanda's business really. She was not some dog whisperer.

"Yes, I'm aware, but this is important."

_"Can't it wait until tomorrow?"_

"Sarge, it's already tomorrow."

Amanda heard Olivia scoff on the other end. Maybe it was a bit too late, or early, for sarcasm. Sass. Whatever that comment was.

_"That was not what I meant, Amanda." _

"Sorry. I didn't really plan on being up so late. Early. Whatever."

Silence. Amanda waited for Olivia to say something on the other end before she were to continue, explain why she called in the first place. She didn't want this call to result in an angry sergeant when she came in for work for her shift. The others would get on her ass for it.

"Olivia, I—" Amanda started, but Olivia cut her off.

_"I'm already awake, so you might as well tell me what's so important that you felt the need to call me." _

"I found a twelve-year-old girl on the steps of my apartment building after taking Frannie out. I didn't really think anything of it at first, but I don't know. She just gives me an off feeling. Frannie's been attached to her since I brought her in."

_"Wait, you're telling me that you brought a girl into your apartment, and didn't think, I don't know, to bring her to the station?" _

Amanda knew she was going to be hit with that question. How was she supposed to bring a girl that was barely able to stand up on her own into the station? "She was injured, starved and dehydrated. There was no way—"

_"Rollins, did you consider taking her to a hospital?"_

Now that Olivia brought it up, Remi never told her why she couldn't be taken to a local hospital. She fell asleep before Amanda could possibly question her, before Remi could even say anything. What was she supposed to tell Olivia? She had no idea of Remi's reasoning. With each passing second, Amanda's mind kept wondering. There had to be something... Amanda's first thought was that maybe Remi was a run-away. And the place she was running away from was somewhere that she feared going back to. If she was admitted to a hospital, she would risk being found. Or she was pissed at her parents and ran away in protest. Kids did that all the time. Or she did something she regretted and left whatever town she lived in. She didn't want to deal with the repercussions. There were so many scenarios that Amanda could think of. Just from working at SVU and from what she'd seen, she could think of a dozen more. Yet, Amanda didn't want to assume anything, despite all of the situations that went through her mind. Whatever it was, she hoped it was nothing daunting.

"I did. I told her that it would be best if I took her, but she refused. She said that she can't and that she would explain it, but I never got the chance to ask before she passed out on my couch."

_"She can't. That's all she told you?"_

"Yeah. Unfortunately."

_"Once she wakes up, ask her. If her reasoning involves anything that would allow us to do further investigation_—"

"Bring her to the station, got it." Beat. "I'll see you in a couple hours."

_"Yep. Get some sleep, Amanda." _

"Thanks, Sarge."

Amanda pulled her phone away from her ear and hung up, letting out a sigh as the black case of her phone hit the counter top. She knew then that she definitely wasn't going to get any sleep tonight. There was too much on her mind that was keeping her awake. Her mind was running way too fast in continuous circles. She didn't know how to stop it. If she did, maybe she could acquire some sleep, but now, there was no way. Her self-declaration of not sleeping tonight was going to kick her in the ass once work hits her.

She was setting herself up to be buried deep into the dirt, but she didn't care, at least not at the moment. She held too much worry and concern to pull her eyes away from Remi for one second. And even if there was nothing the SVU could do to investigate or help Remi, she knew she was going to have to bring her to the precinct anyway. She wasn't going to let her alone in the apartment. She wasn't going to push her into the streets either. SVU could help Remi find a home or be sent back to her home depending on her situation. Maybe search her up in the system, see if there's a ping. Talk to child services. Whatever she'd have to do to make sure that Remi was in a secure spot, she would do it. Amanda usually didn't grow attached to people, especially victims like Olivia did, but this was something different, and she couldn't place her finger on it.

"Your boss seems nice."

Amanda jumped a bit at the sudden voice that rang through her ears, but exhaled when she realized that the voice belonged to Remi. She was too in her head to notice that Remi woke up, sitting up and holding the blanket close to her body. Frannie had moved too, now joined Remi on the couch. Her two front legs and her head rested on Remi's lap.

"I mean, from what I heard. She also sounded tired. I don't blame her for getting mad at you for waking her up. I would be too. Can I have some water?"

Amanda parted her lips, processing all that Remi said. Her tiredness was finally getting to her. Some of what Remi said at first sounded like gibberish to her, but she was eventually able to wrap her mind around it even though she was too tired to think. "Uh yeah, sure." She collected Remi's glass from earlier that evening from the coffee table and went to the kitchen to fill it. "How did you know I was talking to my boss?"

"The title you called her: sarge. It's short for sergeant."

"You know," she handed it to Remi, then sat down in front of her on the coffee table, "there are other higher-ups besides the sergeant."

"I do know, but by the way you talked to her and how she talked back, I just assumed. She sounded authoritative." This time, Remi drank the water slower, embracing every bit of the clear liquid that hit her tongue. She wrapped both her hands around the glass, as if she was holding a mug.

Amanda lifted an eyebrow. "Honey, I didn't have her on speaker. There was no way for you to know what she sounded like. There was no way for you to hear her side of the conversation. How much of it did you even hear?"

Remi kept her eyes on the water in her glass. It was still. There was nothing interesting about it. "I know that you told her about me. How I wouldn't let you take me to the hospital. I heard her ask why or something like that. She sounded confused. She also said that I should tell you..." She paused, taking a small sip from the glass. "You said something about a station. L-like a police station? Your boss' title makes sense, fits the job. I've heard it before." Another pause. "Anyway, she then told you to get some sleep. I didn't hear anything after that. You ended the call."

Amanda stared at Remi in awe. How did she hear the other end of the phone call? Amanda was all the way in the kitchen, and yeah the speakers leaked sometimes during phone calls, but there was no way for Remi to hear what Olivia said. She was too far away. "Are you playing some kind of trick on me?"

Remi stayed silent and set down the glass on the coffee table next to Amanda. She gently patted Frannie's head.

Amanda stood from the coffee table and paced a few times. The silence meant she was being serious, right? Or did she want Amanda to figure out the answer herself? Whatever it was, Amanda hated being left unanswered. She was too tired for this, over-analyzing everything that she heard Remi say. Trying to come up with some kind of explanation. All she wanted was to sleep, but she already established that she was getting none of that tonight. She wished she was. Maybe then, this would be easier to process. Whatever _this _is.

"So, you're being serious? You actually heard everything my sergeant said."

"Yes, Amanda."

Amanda stopped in front of Remi. "But how... how is that possible?"

Remi set her attention all on Frannie, petting her and making kissing noises with her lips. Frannie's nose was trying to find Remi's other hand—the one that was still bruised a bit, however, not as bad as it was when Amanda found her—but Remi kept it at her side, receiving a frustrated bark from Frannie. Amanda watched Remi interact with Frannie and quieted Frannie down when she barked. Frannie stood and hopped off the couch, going into the kitchen to her water bowl. Remi tried to call her back over. Frannie kept her nose in the water bowl.

Amanda assumed that maybe this was difficult for Remi to talk about, which explained the silence Remi was giving her. Or maybe Remi was just too scared to tell her. Scared of how Amanda would react. Scared that Amanda wouldn't believe her, especially if it was something crazy like—

"I'm not human," Remi muttered, catching Amanda off-guard.

That, she wasn't at all expecting. What was Amanda supposed to say to that?

She shifted on her feet, and her eyes wandered to Remi's hand at her side. She cleared her throat. "How about I patch up your hand there and you can tell me all about it, okay?"

Remi looked up to Amanda and nodded. Amanda left Remi to get the first aid kit from the bathroom, coming back with the white box in hand. She sat down beside Remi on the couch and opened up the kit before placing it on the coffee table. She searched through the kit and picked out a few things: gauze, bandage wrap, wet towelette packets, and anti-bacterial cream.

She opened up a towelette pack. "What makes you think you're not human?"

"I don't think, I know," Remi said and held out her hand to Amanda.

"Well, how do you know?" Amanda gently dabbed Remi's hand with the towelette. Remi didn't seem to flinch, even when Amanda was cleaning off the more exposed wounds that were no longer bleeding thanks to Frannie. She found that to be strange, that Remi didn't react much to what looked to be rather painful. She wondered if it had something to do with Remi saying that she wasn't human.

"Me and my siblings aren't like the other people there. We can do things that they can't. They said that they made us that way so we can defend the country more efficiently."

Amanda finished up cleaning Remi's hand and set the towelette next to the first aid kit. She took the anti-bacterial cream next. "What kind of things?" She put some of the cream on a q-tip and spread it on Remi's open wounds and scrapes.

"We're faster and stronger. They trained us to do all kinds of things, but I am the weakest out of my other siblings in my unit. I sometimes couldn't keep up with them."

"And why is that?" Amanda asked, putting the used q-tip on top of the towelette. She grabbed the gauze and placed it on Remi's knuckle. She made sure that it was going to stay, then taking the bandage wrap. She started to wrap Remi's hand.

"Lydecker said that scientists messed up my test tube." Amanda perked up at the mention of a name. "Like they spilled it or something. I don't know. I guess some things in my DNA are human when they shouldn't be. I don't know why Lydecker didn't kill me when he found out. He's a very strict man. He liked to push us past our limits. I didn't like that."

Amanda finished wrapping Remi's hand and attached a safety pin to keep the bandage in place. "This Lydecker, is he in charge?"

Remi nodded. "He sets all the rules. He's probably leading the search to find us." Amanda let go of Remi's hand, and Remi examined it for a moment. "Thirteen of us, including myself, escaped after my big sister, Max, had a seizure. They were going to take her away. My big brother, Zack, made sure that wasn't going to happen. We hated it there. All we did was train and train and train. There was no time to have fun. I don't even know what fun is." She shook away the thought. "If it weren't for Zack, I wouldn't be sitting in front of you right now."

"Don't think about it like that, okay? You're safe here." Amanda gave Remi a soft smile and ran her hand over Remi's auburn locks.

She didn't expect Remi to lean into the gesture. She didn't expect Remi to tell her so much either, and she wasn't even sure if she could fully believe Remi just yet. For all she knew, Remi could be making this up, yet how she spoke made everything she said sound genuine. Amanda sensed the fear and tiredness in her voice, especially whenever Remi brought up Lydecker. Whoever he was, Remi feared him and she feared the possibility of him finding her. Amanda didn't blame her. From what she heard, the place Remi was talking about sounded like hell. No kid should have to go through that.

"You should get some more sleep, Remi. You've been through a lot, and you deserve a break." Amanda stood up from the couch to go to her bedroom to get herself some sleep too, but Remi's hand grabbed her wrist before she could. "Is something wrong?"

Remi hesitantly pulled her hand back, settling it on her lap. "Please don't go."

Amanda sighed and sat back down on the couch. "I won't. I promise. Just go to sleep, okay?"

"Okay," Remi whispered, shifting on the couch a bit so she could lay down. Her head landed on Amanda's lap.

"Oh." Amanda lifted her hand up before setting it gently on Remi's head. Now, she definitely knew she wasn't going to get any sleep, but she didn't have a problem with it, at least that was what she thought. After she knew Remi had fallen asleep, Amanda found herself dozing off, sleep taking her too.


	3. Remi 2

_Remi knew that everyone—her twelve siblings that escaped—successfully climbed the fence surrounding the woods, everyone except her. She stayed, clinging to the trunk of a pine tree, hidden in the brush. She counted the little bugs_—_well, what was left of them in the winter_—_going up and down the trunk, sometimes over her hand. It distracted her from the echoing barks in dark of night, their snouts grazing the snow. It was a reminder that they hadn't stopped looking for her yet. They knew that she was still in these woods somehow. The German Shepherds smelled her, or they only faintly smelled her because she was so high up, buried in the tree. Not even the lights shining down from several helicopters could see her. She blended right in despite the faded, dark grey gown she was wearing. It wasn't exactly her field gear—camo patterned—which made it hard to track and see her because she was so small. She was a lot smaller than the others. It didn't help that she was three years younger than them too. She wasn't wearing any shoes either. Thanks to her DNA, the winter cold didn't really effect her._

_Through the view the bristles barely gave her, she looked out to the fence, which she calculated to be more than ten feet away from her, excluding the height of where she was in the tree. No one seemed to be around. No dogs. No Manticore workers. No Lydecker. Of course, she knew that Lydecker would be in charge of the whole search, never to step in unless he absolutely had to. That was what commanding officers did. Made sure that everyone was doing what they were supposed to. Made sure that everything was going to plan. It made Remi feel better about the whole situation. The only person on Manticore's staff that she was afraid of was Lydecker. Anyone else, she wouldn't think twice before knocking them out. Despite that, she didn't want to take any risks that may ruin the possibility of freedom for her._

What if I just stay here until they all went away? At least long enough for them to assume that I already made it over the fence?

Knowing Lydecker, he won't stop searching until me and my other siblings are found. But the thing is, they're human. They're weaker. They can't go without sleep for more than twenty-four hours. They can't go without water for three days. They can't go without food for two weeks, maybe three. So, maybe there is a chance of getting out of here without being seen, but that chance isn't now.

_Remi shifted on her feet, the wood of the branch making her feet ache. It wasn't the most comfortable platform to stand on. She figured that once she was free, there might be splinters waiting for her at the soles of her feet. While hiding away and making sure she wasn't found was not a time to be careful and wary of splinters. She didn't really care. They wouldn't bother her anyway._

_Remi kept her eyes on the fence, waiting and waiting, but her eyes caught movement. It was one of the many men that were searching for her. She held her breath, like if she were to make even the smallest of sounds, they would find her. _

_She hyper-focused on the Manticore agent, her pupils dilating. She was curious as to what he was doing by himself without any of the others around him for back-up, just in case. Whatever he was doing, he had a walkie talkie in hand. Her sensitive ears started to pick up on the conversation. He was communicating with Lydecker. _

_"Any signs of 8-1-2?" she heard Lydecker ask. They were still looking for her. They really believed that she hadn't climbed over the fence yet. _

_"No, sir. The whole woods is clear." _

_"Keep looking. 8-1-2 is a sneaky one. She's just playing a small game of hide-and-seek, like she always does. She'll come out eventually. She'll have no choice."_

_"Are you even sure she's still in the premises? She could be anywhere, sir."_

_"No. I know 8-1-2. She's too much of a coward to hop that fence." _

Remi flinched.

"You doin' okay, Remi?" Amanda asked, looking through the rear-view mirror. "You seem a bit uneasy."

Remi stared out the window, watching people walk by on the sidewalks, people go into different buildings and stores. Some were talking on their phones, others had ear buds in. A few couples past by too, walking with their hands laced. Some were walking with their children, probably to the park. She wondered about the good lives they all probably have, the normal lives they live on the daily. Going to work or school every day, being with loving family and friends. She tried to imagine living one of those lives, but she just didn't see it. Her mind drew a blank, and she was kind of pissed at herself that it did. All she saw was herself at Manticore, training like she was born to do, eventually to fight for the country. Wasn't that Lydecker's ultimate goal? To create an unstoppable army?

She forced herself to peel her eyes away from the window and move them to Amanda, who sat diagonally from her in the driver's seat. "I'm fine."

Amanda woke her up earlier that morning. She told Remi that she was going to take her to the precinct to be further questioned by her boss, or the sergeant she spoke to on the phone last night. Together, the two got ready for the day at the precinct. Remi took a nice, warm shower, one that she always dreamed of because at Manticore, the running water was always cold. Amanda let her barrow some of her clothes—a t-shirt and a pair of yoga pants. They were a bit big on her, especially the pants as she was still growing in terms of her height. She wore the same shoes—boots that have the fuzz on the inside—and the same hoodie that she was wearing when Amanda found her. The two ate some cereal for breakfast before leaving the apartment. Remi asked if they could bring Frannie with them, thinking that maybe she would be more comfortable with the cute pup around. Amanda told her that Frannie would be a distraction for herself and her fellow detectives.

_"They have some things there that can make you feel more comfortable during questioning, and if you want, I'll let you play on my phone later," _she remembered Amanda saying.

_"There's games on your phone?" _

_"There sure is, kiddo."_

Remi smiled at the small memory, even though it just happened this morning. It made her feel like she was being cared for. "I was just thinking about something."

Amanda hummed and turned on to another street where the 1-6 sat. "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"I know you don't really believe me, Amanda, so it's not worth talking about," Remi said. Amanda opened her mouth to protest, but Remi cut her off before she could. "I sensed it. I figured that not many people would believe that I'm not like them, that I was raised in a harsh environment, that I was made to be some super soldier. I mean, if a kid told me that they weren't human, I would've found it to be rather ridiculous."

"Well, Remi, that's why I'm bringing you here. My sergeant is one of the best of the best." Amanda pulled up to the curb right outside the precinct and parked. She took the keys out of the ignition and shoved them into her coat pocket. "You'll see."

Remi swallowed and got out of the car with Amanda. They walked up to the precinct, and it wasn't until they were inside that Remi grabbed a hold of Amanda's hand. Amanda stopped and glanced beside her at Remi, who met her eye contact with a soft smile. Remi hoped that Amanda didn't mind her holding her hand and figured that she didn't when they continued towards the elevator.

One trip up the elevator later, and they arrived at the SVU squad room. As Remi took in her new surroundings—the several desks, computers, officers that walked about, some detectives too—, Amanda guided her to the interview room. They past by a small area with a large screen attached to the wall and some different kinds of boards. There were two male detectives sitting around a circular wood table. Remi wanted to hear what they were talking about, but she didn't want to invade on police business. She knew that privacy was important, yet she couldn't help overhearing Amanda's phone conversation last night. A part of her still regretted listening in.

How was she supposed to go against what she was trained to do? To use her abilities and enhanced senses to gather information and fully understand everything that was going on around her?

Maybe she would feel less guilty knowing that her siblings would probably do the same thing because it was instinct.

Amanda opened the door to the interview room, and Remi let go of her hand, eager to explore. "Why don't you take a seat? My sergeant will be here soon."

"Okay," Remi said, too focused on scanning the room to fully acknowledge Amanda's presence. Her eyes went into hyper-focus, picking out the little details on everything around her. She didn't even know that Amanda closed the door. She didn't hear it, despite how sensitive her hearing was.

She spotted a box by some toys on a wood shelf, filled with what she didn't know were Legos, and grabbed it. She brought them with her to the large table in the middle of the room and set the box on top of the table. She sat down on one of the spin-y chairs and opened the box, almost gasping at the tiny pieces that lay inside. It was her first time she'd interacted with something that didn't have to do with training. It was no gun or weapon, but tiny blocks that she could put together. Her smile grew wider. Her eyes lit up. And she didn't hesitate to take out a hand full of Legos and build something. She wanted to try to build one of the sky scrapers she'd seen around the city, putting together some Legos to start with the base. However, she didn't get very far as the door opened again. Remi heard the door open that time and shifted her attention to it.

A woman with brown hair stepped in, with a note pad, pen, paper, and box of colored pencils, and closed the door behind her. Remi watched her every little movement, from making brief eye contact with Remi to looking at the Legos on the table. She smiled and took a seat at the spin-y chair in front of Remi, setting the note pad and the other things she brought with her on the table. Remi shook her head and focused back on the Legos.

"I see you found the Legos," she heard the woman say.

Remi connected a few Legos before something clicked in her head. She'd heard that voice before, except it sounded softer compared to when she first heard it on the other end of Amanda's phone call. Remi's eyes left the Legos, a smile pulling across her face. "You were on the phone with Amanda last night. You're the sergeant."

"I am, but you can call me Olivia." Olivia slid the piece of paper and colored pencils towards Remi. "I know you're hooked on those Legos, but we usually have the children we question draw. It tends to keep them in a calm state of mind, as being poked with questions can be a bit overwhelming."

Remi nodded and pushed the start of the sky scraper to the side, along with the box. "Okay." She grabbed the paper and box of colored pencils.

As she stared at the two objects for a moment, she felt eyes on her, Olivia's eyes. At first, she didn't really know what to do, but followed what her gut told her to do, just like back at Manticore during training or sparring sessions. She opened the box of colored pencils and spilled them out on to the table. The colors ranged from a simple red to purple. There were some neutral colors too like grey, brown, and black. She reached for the black colored pencil. It reminded her of Manticore, always being in the dark, separate from the real world. Remi looked back up at Olivia and cocked her head to the side, as if she was studying her. Her eyes, her nose, other facial features that stood out to her. Then, she put the colored pencil to the paper, starting to draw.

Olivia smiled, keeping her eyes on Remi rather than watching her draw. "Amanda never said what your name is."

"I'm Remi. That was the name that my big sister gave me. All of my siblings called me that. I like it." Remi glanced at Olivia again and grabbed another color. Red, like all of the stored anger towards Lydecker. Like all of her blood that was shed during training. "It's better than 8-1-2."

"8-1-2?" Olivia moved her pen on the paper, writing what she was hearing. "Is that some kind of I.D.?"

"Identification?"

"Yes."

"No. Designation. X5-812, or 3-3-5-1-7-6-1-1-5-8-1-2. They practically drilled that into our heads." Remi set the red down and picked up the blue, which reminded her of her siblings, how she may never reunite with them. How she didn't even know if they were still alive.

Olivia parted her lips slightly as she processed her thoughts, leaving them in silence for a second. She pushed on once she got everything going on in her head situated. "Sweetie, who's they?"

"Manticore."

"Now, is that a group of people? Or a place maybe?"

Remi stopped drawing and lifted her head. "It's the place I was born, a bad place. Gillette, Wyoming is the place where Manticore was at. It's outside Seattle now. They moved it there after me and my siblings escaped. I don't know why they picked Seattle."

"You have siblings? How many?" Olivia asked.

"A lot, but they're not biologically related to me. They don't look like me. I only look like me." Remi picked up the blue pencil again and continued drawing. "But we're all the same. That's why we were in the same unit. I miss them. I don't know where they are. I don't know if they're alive."

"What about your parents?"

Remi bit the inside of her cheek, her grip tightening around the pencil. She could hear the wood start to crack from inside it. It was a nice sound, made her think of when she climbed that tree to safety back in the woods after her escape. Listening in to that Manticore agent and Lydecker. Was she really a coward?

She exhaled and dropped the pencil before she could break it, receiving a concerned look from Olivia. "I'm fine. I just don't want to talk about my parents."

"Then we don't have to, okay? Hmm?" Olivia glanced at Remi's hand, the one that was wrapped up. "Tell me about what happened to your hand?"

Remi held her hand close to her chest as if she was protecting it. "I got into a fight. There were two men attacking some girl in the alley. They had a gun to her head. I was able to fight them off long enough for her to get away."

"How could a twelve-year-old fight off two men without getting killed?" Olivia asked, obviously not fully believing Remi.

"I'm not like other twelve-year-olds, Oliv—" A thought pulled at her head, her words coming to a sudden halt. The two men took away the most important thing she needed to survive. She'd been lucky so far, but she knew that her luck wouldn't last too long. Not only was she weaker than the others in her unit, she also had seizures more often. There were some days where she'd endure multiple seizures, mostly from over exerting herself during training. Manticore agents made sure that she was given Tryptophan after rough training sessions. But what was she going to do now without her Tryptophan pills? That was her only supply, and of course, some bad men had to take the one thing she needed most, that she couldn't live without. A seizure could hit her any time now, and she wouldn't be able to do anything about it. "Olivia, I..."

Olivia looked at Remi, waiting for her to possibly finish what she was going to say. She saw her eyes drift to the mirror, or the one-way window, which on the other side stood Amanda and Nick. It was like she knew there was something, someone beyond that window, watching her.

Not hearing anything further from Remi, she reached her hand out towards her in a comforting manor. "Do you need a break? Amanda could get you a snack from the vending machine if you—"

Remi kept her eyes on the mirror. "It's nothing like that. I just... I need to talk to Amanda about something. It's important."


	4. Amanda 2

_"It's nothing like that. I just... I need to talk to Amanda about something," _Amanda heard Remi say through the intercom connected to the interview room. _"It's important."_

Amanda was standing next to Nick, watching Olivia question Remi. What Remi was telling Olivia was consistent with what Remi told Amanda last night. There were some things that Remi brought up that Amanda didn't know about, like how she got into a fight with two men. This place called Manticore, the place she said she was born at. Yet, there were some things that she was leaving out, things she told Amanda and not Olivia. The questions that both of them asked were different, so it made sense. Now all they had to do was connect all the pieces and figure out if Remi's story added up.

Amanda looked over at Nick, noticing the conflicted expression on his face as he probably wondered whether or not to believe what Remi was saying. Right now, Amanda might be the only one that believed her. She'd known her longer. She saw how the open wounds on her fist healed almost completely in the matter of hours. Remi knew exactly, to a "T", what Olivia said on the other end of the phone call, and recognized her voice upon hearing it for the first time in person.

Remi was staring at the one-way window, as if she knew that Amanda was watching on the other side.

"I don't know why you brought this girl in, Rollins," Nick started, shifting on his feet to turn towards her. "It sounds like she made all this up, probably for attention. Kids have a tendency to do those type of things."

Amanda sighed. She expected the others to be slow. "I believe her. And what else was I supposed to do? She has no family, made that very clear when Liv asked her about her parents. She has no where else to go. I can't just let her go back on the streets. She's twelve. After what she's been through, she deserves some peace of mind."

"If that's even true, Amanda. I mean, how did she even get to Manhattan anyway, and from Wyoming? Like you said, she's twelve. There's no way that she could survive that long of a trip by herself," Nick retorted.

Amanda's eyes moved from Nick to Remi, having enough of his stupid, yet realistic_—_she wasn't going to fight him on that_—_reasoning, and listened to her sergeant asking why Remi wanted to talk with Amanda specifically when she could just tell her what was so important. "She escaped five years ago. It took her five years to get to New York. That's a reasonable amount of time_—_"

_"I feel more comfortable talking with Amanda. It's... it's um... life or death." _

_Shit. _

Nick had his hand up, ready to knock on the glass. "I should call her out."

"No. It's fine. I'll go in." Amanda took a breath. "She wants to talk to me, so I'll let her talk. Besides, like she said: it's life or death." She left Nick's side and went into the interview room through it's other door in Olivia's office. All eyes shifted to her as she sat down in the chair next to Remi. "What's so important, hmm?" she asked Remi, her voice soft, almost delicate. "Whatever it is, you don't have to be afraid anymore."

Remi smiled a little at Amanda, appreciating her gentle nature. "After I fought off those two men, they took my backpack. Besides the cash that someone gave me while on my way to New York, I had a bottle of pills. Tryptophan."

Both Amanda and Olivia gave her a look of disbelief, almost shock. Amanda knew that Olivia wondered the same thing: why was this twelve-year-old girl carrying around a bottle of Tryptophan?

Despite their reactions_—_Amanda's changing to one of concern, that someone on the streets got a young girl hooked on drugs_—_Remi continued on. "The Tryptophan helps calm my seizures, prevents them too." Olivia and Amanda exhaled, as if they were holding their breaths. "The chemicals in my brain are a little messed up, and the agents at Manticore gave us Tryptophan when we had seizures. I had them more often than the others. I still do. But um... without it, I could die."

Amanda swallowed at the thought, fear clouding her entire being. Her need to envelop the girl and keep her close only became stronger. She tried to imagine how hard it must've been for Remi at this Manticore place, dealing with things, like her seizures, that could kill her at any second. That and the constant training that probably pushed her more than she could handle. She couldn't imagine herself possibly living a life like that. Whenever she thought about it for a second, about Remi and her upbringing, it scared her. And Amanda wasn't one to get scared easily. Her own upbringing wasn't good, but it was nothing compared to Remi's.

She glanced at Remi, who seemed small and cornered like a cat being surrounded by children that all want to pet it, then at Olivia. From the look in her eyes, Olivia's heart was sinking into her stomach, worry, concern, and sadness coming out of its hiding spot inside her. She nodded at Amanda before standing. "I'm going to give Warner a call, see what she can do," Olivia told her, and left the room through the door that led into her office.

It was just Amanda and Remi now.

Remi grabbed the paper that looked like the drawing Olivia made her do while she questioned her. "Wanna see the picture I drew of Olivia?"

"You drew Olivia?" Amanda asked. "I bet she'll be very pleased to see it."

Remi chuckled and got up from her own chair and went over to Amanda with the drawing in hand. She climbed on to Amanda's lap, to Amanda's surprise, and settled. Amanda instinctively wrapped an arm around Remi's mid-section to keep her from slipping off her lap. Her other hand stroked Remi's long, auburn locks, which she remembered brushing this morning after Remi's shower. It was still damp.

"See?" Remi held the picture out so Amanda had a clear view of it.

Amanda moved her head a little to the side, her eyes going wide upon finally seeing the picture. It was perfect. So detailed that she knew right away that it was Olivia. Each of Olivia's features were exact: her nose, her face shape, the style of her hair. She swore that the quality and distinctness of the drawing was several times better than any sketch artist Amanda's ever worked with. Even though the drawing of Olivia was in a few different colors, which Amanda was confused as to why Remi chose to draw Olivia using three or four different colors instead of one, it was the most amazing and beautiful portrait that Amanda had ever seen.

"Wow, Remi. It's... wow." Amanda adjusted Remi on her lap, bringing Remi closer to her.

"Thank you, Amanda. I've never drawn anything before. I guess they mixed some artist DNA in my test tube." Remi set the paper on the table. "Probably the only thing they got right," she muttered.

Amanda frowned. "Hey, don't say that. You're perfect, Rem. Don't let your DNA say otherwise." She brushed Remi's hair to the side, over her one shoulder. "Not many people have this kinda talent. I wish I could do something like this. But, this talent isn't the only good quality you have, understand?"

"Yeah. I understand," Remi said, reaching forward to grab for some of the Legos while keeping her balance on Amanda's lap.

When Remi leaned forward, something caught Amanda's eye, and it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand. On the back of Remi's neck were black lines, even and of different widths. To Amanda, it looked like a tattoo, but the color was sharp and dark, not faded like how tattoo ink appeared over time. Amanda knew that it had to be some kind of barcode, but without the numbers at the bottom of the first and the last line like with barcodes stamped on food products and other things that could be purchased. Each line must've matched each number of what Remi said was her designation.

The fact that Remi had a barcode at the nape of her neck made Amanda feel sick. It reminded her too much of a prostitution ring they busted last year. She almost wondered if they were somehow still open for business through some kind of copy cat. And the story Remi kept going on about was just her way of coping. If that were true, that wouldn't explain some of the things that Amanda had witnessed.

Even if it were the case, that Remi was using her story as a coping mechanism to forget about what really happened to her, she was too young_—_only seven when she said she escaped_—_and she didn't show any signs of sexual trauma, emotional or psychological. She seemed happy, acted like any child would. Rather a child that never got to experience a real childhood.

Amanda cleared her throat and stroked Remi's hair again. "Hey, honey. What's this on the back of your neck?"

"Hmm?" Remi picked up a few more Legos, putting them together. She adjusted herself on Amanda's lap and looked over her shoulder. "You mean my barcode?"

"Yeah. Why do you have a barcode on your neck?" Amanda pulled her closer, feeling the need to protect her from something, but she wasn't sure what from. She was safe with her at the precinct. Amanda knew that.

Remi hummed in content and rested her head on Amanda's chest, fiddling with the clump of Legos in her hand. "I was born with it. I mean, I think I was. I had it for as long as I can remember. Lydecker used our barcodes to keep track of us. He didn't let out hair grow. We all had our hair like a boy so he could easily identify every one of us just by looking at our barcodes. Also, long hair gets in the way during training." She moved away from Amanda to set the clump of Legos on the table before settling again. "Can I have a snack, Amanda?"

"Of course, honey. Anythin' you want."

"Okay!" Remi hopped off Amanda's lap and waited for Amanda to stand up before grabbing her hand.

Amanda looked down at Remi and smiled. "Why don't I bring your drawing with us? I can give it to Olivia if I see her." She squeezed Remi's hand and received a nod from her. She let go of Remi's hand for a moment to grab the picture off the table, then took Remi's hand again. The two walked out of the interview room and towards the break room. "Now, what kind of snacks do you like? There's a lot that you can choose from."

Remi shrugged. "I've never had a snack before. We weren't allowed to have snacks. Just what we were given."

"Well, let me tell ya: you're missin' out." Amanda guided her over to the vending machines in the break room, allowing her to look at all the snacks inside.

Amanda swore that Remi stared_—_just stared_—_at the vending machine for a solid five minutes, the both of them encased in silence, except for the murmurs and footsteps and other noises that were common in a precinct every so often. Amanda almost wanted to pick something for Remi because, like she said, she'd never had a snack before. How would she know what she liked? She wondered if those five minutes of Remi staring at the vending machine was just her being in complete awe of the sheer existence of a vending machine. She'd probably never seen one before. And Amanda was trying so hard to keep her impatience at bay. She kept telling herself that she should let the kid experience a normal life that she'd never had at her own pace. That included using a vending machine for the first time, even though Amanda was buying her the snack and pressing the right buttons for her.

After a few more minutes of silence, something felt off to Amanda. She was about to give Remi a suggestion, but noticed that Remi wasn't even looking at the vending machine anymore. Her eyes were closed, focusing on god knows what. Did Remi do things like that often? Completely zone out at random?

Amanda moved so she was in front of Remi and knelt down to be at eye level with her. "Remi, sweetheart, you okay?" Remi opened her eyes after hearing Amanda's voice and looked out the window of the break room. Not a single sound left her lips, not even an acknowledgment. Amanda just followed Remi's gaze. Fin was talking to some girl at the entrance of the squad room, or at least attempting to. The girl didn't seem to understand what he was saying.

"She needs help," Remi said suddenly, pulling Amanda's attention away from the window. "I need to help her."

"That's what the detectives are for. They can help her," Amanda told her, giving her a soft smile.

Remi shook her head and ran out of the break room, and Amanda rushed after her. But Amanda stopped a few feet away from Fin and the young girl that was trying to seek help, seeing Remi say something along the lines of "I can understand her. I can tell you what she's saying" to Fin. He obviously didn't know who Remi was, but allowed her to talk to the girl anyway. He didn't seem to question Remi's presence in the precinct either.

"Vy skazali, chto vam nuzhna pomoshch'?" Remi asked the girl.

_Wait, she spoke Russian too? And identified that the language the girl was speaking was Russian all the way from the break room? Was there anything Remi couldn't do?_

"Da, ya ... podozhdi," she paused, studing Remi for a moment. "Ty vyglyadish' znakomo. Ty devushka, kotoraya spasla moyu zhizn', ne tak li?"

Remi smiled softly. "U kogo-to, kogo derzhali pod pritselom, u tebya ochen' khoroshaya pamyat'." The teen's face fell at the comment, and Remi bit her lip. Whatever Remi said to the girl must've made her uncomfortable. She continued to speak anyway. "Sozhaleyu."

"Eto chto ugodno. Kstati, ty byl takim zadnitsey."

"'Nadrat' zadnitsu'?" Remi asked slowly.

The girl opened her mouth to speak, but before she could, Amanda butted in. She stood next to Fin, who didn't understand what was going on or what they were talking about. As detectives, they hated being out of the loop. "Hey, Remi. Would you like to share with the class?"

Remi turned around to face Amanda, confusion covering her face, her head tilted to the side. "What class?"

"What was she sayin', kid?" Fin nudged Amanda's arm with his elbow at Amanda's sarcasm, receiving a glare from the blonde.

Remi ignored Fin and fully focused on Amanda. She wasn't sure why Remi did that, but maybe it was because Amanda was the only one who'd understand her answer. "She's the girl that was being attacked by the two men I got into a fight with. She's looking for help. She said that I was kick ass? Amanda, what does 'kick ass' mean?"

Amanda's eyes went wide. "What 'kick ass' means doesn't matter right now. Tell her that I'm going to bring her to the sergeant so she can get her statement."

Remi turned back around to the girl and chuckled a little. "Udivitel'naya Amanda otvezet vas pogovorit' s serzhantom, chtoby poluchit' vashe zayavleniye. I ne volnuysya. Vozmozhno, oni predostavyat vam perevodchika."

The teen chuckled too, then nodded.

Amanda looked between the two girls and sighed. She gestured for the teen to walk with her towards Olivia's office. But before the two left for Olivia's office, she told Fin to keep Remi occupied. "Let her play on your phone or something. And please keep an eye on her." She shook her head and made her way to Olivia's office with the teen beside her, Remi's drawing of Olivia still tight in her hand.

* * *

**Notes: **

**For the Russian translations, I used Google Translate, so it may not be 100% accurate. Here's the conversation in English:**

**(Remi) "You said you needed help?"**

**(Girl) "Yes, I... wait. ... You're the girl that saved my life, aren't you?"**

**(Remi) "For someone who was held at gunpoint, you have very good memory. ... Sorry."**

**(Girl) "It's whatever. By the way, you were so kick ass."**

**(Remi) "'Kick ass'?"**

**(Remi) "The amazing Amanda is going to take you to talk with the sergeant to get your statement. And don't worry. They'll probably supply you with a translator."**


	5. Remi 3

Remi was sitting on the chair beside Fin's desk, her thumbs tapping along the screen at the game she was playing. _Candy Crush_. Apparently, Fin hadn't been able to get past level seventy-two. Remi was able to beat it on her first try. The same was with every level after it. She knew exactly which moves to take to defeat the levels without fail. Her DNA granted her advanced intelligence, intelligence that was far better than any human she'd encountered—fully educated or not. Fin wasn't paying much attention to the small red head as he was busy with paper work, although he did thank her for beating level seventy-two.

Remi would attempt to show Fin his phone every time she beat another level, standing from the chair, chanting, "I did it! Look! Look!" He would say something along the lines of: "That's great, kid. Keep on playin'." He wouldn't look her way, too into the paper work, and she would sit back down. This went on until Amanda came back from the Sergeant's office. That was about a half hour later.

She wondered why Amanda spent so much time in the Sergeant's office when the Sergeant herself was going to take that teen's statement, but she dd see Amanda leave once then go back in. Probably with the translator. Once Remi saw Amanda leave the Sergeant's office, she jumped up from her chair and ran over to Amanda, stopping her from making her way to her desk. It was in front of Fin's, connected, not literally. She assumed that they were partners.

"Amanda! Amanda!" Remi said excitedly. "Detective Fin let me play a candy game on his phone! I beat the level he couldn't beat in one try! See? See?" She showed Amanda Fin's phone.

The _Candy Crush _map lit up on the screen, and level seventy-two was completed. Perfect score.

Amanda smiled at the young girl. "Fin got you into _Candy Crush_, huh?" She gently petted Remi's hair, which Remi closed her eyes for a moment before peering back up at Amanda. "Why don't you give Fin his phone back, and I can get you that snack you wanted?"

Remi nodded and went back to Fin's desk. "Detective Fin?"

Fin finally looked up from his paper work, giving Remi a friendly smile. "What's up, kid?"

"Thanks for letting me play." She held out the phone for Fin to take. "I had a lot of fun."

Fin took his phone and set it down on his desk. "Of course, Little Red. If I need help with another level, I'll make sure to give you a yell."

Remi chuckled and left back to Amanda, who was on her phone. She wondered if she played _Candy Crush_ too. "'Manda?"

Amanda lifted her head from her phone before shoving it in her back pocket. "Yeah?"

"Snack, remember?" Remi said, glancing towards the break room where the vending machine sat, then back at Amanda.

"Right. How could I forget?" Amanda ruffled Remi's hair and started towards the break room. Remi followed shortly behind her. "And I know that you've never had a snack before, so this time, I'm gonna choose for ya. Sound good?"

Rmei nodded and took bigger strides to eventually be in line with Amanda, grabbing her hand. She liked holding Amanda's hand. It made her feel something that she'd never quite felt before—safe. She'd never felt safe at Manticore. There, her life was always in danger, whether it be during sparring matches with the others in her unit or field work out in the woods. Even after she escaped, she always felt that they were following her, waiting for just the right moment to take her. She'd imagine them shocking her with one of those taser rods they always had and shoving her into a Military assigned vehicle. She knew that they would put her into a new unit once they would arrive at the new Manticore facility in Seattle. At the new facility, all she would do with her unit was train, just like before the escape in '09.

Amanda and Remi were right back in front of the vending machines, where they were about an hour earlier. Amanda started telling Remi about all the snacks in the machine—the pretzels and chips, cookies and popcorn. Remi had heard of some of those names before, maybe during those five years she couldn't recall on demand. A lot had happened during those five years before arriving in New York. It was almost as if she completely shut them away, had them under lock and key. And the key? She swallowed it, like a kid would when they have to keep a secret.

"Everyone loves hips, especially _Lays_." Amanda took out her wallet from her front pants pocket. "There's no doubt that you will like them too." Remi simply nodded as Amanda slide a dollar bill into the slot.

The machine made a noise, like it was processing Amanda's "order" for the chips. The _Lays _chips moved forward by a spring and fell.

_Clunk._

Remi tilted her head to the side, watching Amanda bend down in front of the machine. "It ate it."

Amanda giggled and reached her hand through the flap of the machine, pulling out the yellow bag of chips. She stood and held the back out to Remi for her to take. "It's right here."

Remi looked between Amanda and the machine. "I don't understand."

Amanda smiled and passed her hand through Remi's hair. "You don't have to."

Remi took the small bag of chips from Amanda. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, Rem." She placed her hand on Remi's shoulder. "Let's head back out. There's a level I can't seem to pass on _Candy Crush_..."

Remi giggled and turned to leave the break room with Amanda. After taking a few steps towards the open double door with a red stripe on the glass, Remi started feeling a little off. She felt hot, her cheeks flushing a light shade of red. It was like she was standing outside in the heat while wearing long pants and a winter coat. It was usually cold in Wyoming, but during the summer, it could get pretty hot. Of course, Lydecker didn't care and made all of them do field work anyway. He figured the heat wouldn't effect the X5s because of their DNA, but he must had forgotten about that Miss X5-812 was defective. She passed out from dehydration. Even then, Lydecker didn't care. Everyone had abandoned her in those woods, except for her big sister, Max.

Remi stopped walking, which caused Amanda to stop too. Her hands were trembling, so much that she dropped the bag of chips. She didn't notice Amanda picking up the bag as her eyes stayed on her shaking hands. Her breathing picked up its pace, and Amanda looked at her before following Remi's gaze to her hands.

Amanda settled her free hand on Remi's back. "You okay, Sweetie?"

At Amanda's voice, Remi pulled her hands close to her chest and nodded. "I'm fine," she said, trying to keep herself composed. She looked up to Amanda and swallowed.

She was running out of time.


	6. Amanda 3

Amanda had settled Remi back in the interview room with her snack and a little cup of water, where Remi went back to building her sky scraper with the Legos. Fin eventually joined her in the interview room to watch over her. Remi had grown to like Fin, so she didn't mind it. Amanda could tell that she enjoyed Fin's company as he helped her build the sky scraper, asking her some questions about her past, about how she got to Manhattan in the first place. As Amanda was listening in, Olivia by her side, she took note that Remi didn't answer any of the questions about how she got to Manhattan. She figured that maybe the trip was too much for her to recall. It made sense for a seven-year-old, at the time, to block out the long journey that had her watching her six every five seconds, telling herself that she couldn't trust anyone.

Amanda left the one-way window once Remi stopped speaking and answering Fin's questions. Olivia, after another minute, followed suit to Amanda's desk. Amanda sat with her lap top open, typing away with Olivia looking over her shoulder. She kept asking what Amanda was doing as Amanda seemed to be rushing to find something, but the questions must had went over Amanda's head because she never answered.

Before she left Remi with Fin in the interview room, Amanda was able to get a picture with her phone of the girl's barcode on her neck while she was distracted with the Legos and her snack. She'd planned on looking through the system for kids Remi's age with distinguishing marks and tattoos that were similar to the barcode on Remi's neck. She'd hoped that coming up with some kind of match in the system would be enough to prove Remi's story. That maybe she would be able to protect Remi from the people she was running from, put her in WPP, if the state of New York allowed her. Or she could stay with Amanda. If Olivia and social services would allow it.

She pulled up the picture on the side in her lap top for comparison as she went through the results of her search. Most of the barcodes that were in criminal and arrest files looked nothing like Remi's. A majority of them were in the wrong location—arm, wrist, hand, collar bone, ankle, etc. Of course, all of the people those belonged to were much older than Remi, old enough to get a tattoo.

She continued to scroll and search through for the next few minutes, finding nothing that matched Remi's barcode. She sighed and decided to broaden her search to other states besides New York, specifically states that are bordering or near Wyoming. She knew it would take longer to possibly find something, but she didn't care.

Amanda felt a delicate hand on her shoulder, which stopped her from her search. She almost forgot that her Sergeant was standing behind her, watching her with no idea what she was doing. All she knew was that she was searching through the system. She didn't really question it.

"Rollins."

"Sorry Sarge." Amanda relaxed a bit in her chair, and her hand found the mouse pad again. "After you left the interview room, I saw a barcode on the back of her neck."

Olivia scratched her eye brow. "Please don't tell me—"

"No," Amanda interrupted. She knew what Olivia was going to say before she could say it. She had thought the same thing too when she first saw the barcode. "Remi told me that she was born with it and that she had it for as long as she can remember. She said that at Manticore, the barcodes were used for identification purposes. The barcodes matched their designation." Amanda pointed to Remi's barcode on the screen. "Speaking of, what did Warner say about providing Tryptophan for Remi?"

"She's pulling a lot of strings, but she'll have it in a few days." Olivia crossed her arms over her chest. "So what exactly are you doing?"

Amanda kept her eyes on the screen, scrolling past several pictures and files at a time. "I know that a story like Remi's is hard to believe. None of us have ever heard of Manticore before today, and Remi saying that she can do all of these things that a normal person can't, I just thought that having some proof would help her story." She took a breath. "I thought if her siblings were out there somewhere in this world where they have no idea how it works because they've probably been secluded most their lives..."

"You could find one of them in the system," Olivia finished.

"With a similar barcode like Remi's. If I can't find anything..."

"Then we know that she's lying."

Amanda glanced over her shoulder for a moment at her Sergeant. "I believe her."

A smile tugged at the corner of Olivia's lips. "If you didn't, you wouldn't be trying to help her."

"Yeah." Amanda smiled and went back to scrolling through the system. She went through a few more, her eyes scanning those files that seemed to be more close to what she was looking for.

The next file she stumbled upon was more than close to what she was looking for. Rather, it was almost exact. The file belonged to a blond boy, no older than ten, who was arrested for petty theft. No name was attached to the file. Amanda lifted her eye brow. That had to be some kind of sign, that maybe this was one of Remi's many siblings.

"Liv. I think I found somethin'." Amanda stood up with her lap top and brought it over to the flat screen. Olivia followed her and sat down at the circle table, where Nick was currently sitting. She connected her lap top to the flat screen, and what was showing on her lap top appeared on the flat screen.

Nick didn't really understand what was going on at first, why there was the arrest file of a nine-year-old boy up on the flat screen with a picture of some barcode beside the open tab. Amanda quickly filled him in, receiving a sigh from Nick, a sigh that clearly said, "Why are you still investigating this when we have actual cases that we have to solve?". But he noticed that even his boss was interested in whatever Amanda had to say and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed.

Amanda started, "I honestly didn't think I would find anything because from what Remi has told me and from what I've seen of her, she's smart. The rest of her siblings all share similar DNA, so I figured that they would be smart enough to avoid being arrested or at least knew how to get themselves around it. This boy, that was arrested for petty theft in 2009," she pointed to the screen, "not only has the same barcode as Remi does on his neck..." She clicked around for a moment before a picture of his barcode popped up on the flat screen next to Remi's. "...but he managed to escape arrest after four hours. He must've never gave a name to the police because the file doesn't have one."

"Okay, but how would you know for sure that this is one of Remi's siblings?" Nick asked. "The fact that they have similar barcodes could all just be coincidental."

"We could have Remi ID him," Olivia suggested, then looked to Amanda. "Why don't you get Remi from the interview room."

"Sure thing, Sarge." Amanda left her lap top at the table and headed over to the interview room. She opened the door, and both Fin and Remi looked her way. "C'mere, sweetie. I have something I need you to do."

Remi smiled wide at Amanda, mostly at how she'd finally get to do something besides staying in the interview room with Fin. "Okay!" She hopped out of her chair and greeted Amanda at the door, taking her hand. "What do I have to do?"

Amanda started walking with Remi towards the flat screen.

"Is that girl okay?" She kept her eyes on Amanda. "Are you going to ask me more questions? Detective Fin already asked me some earlier. I didn't really answer his questions though. I don't like thinking about how I got to New York, 'Manda. They were always after me. I thought they were never gonna stop."

Amanda gave Remi a soft smile. "It has nothing to do with that, honey."

Remi smiled back. "Good, because I—" She stopped, her eyes meeting with the flat screen. Her smile faded. She let go of Amanda's hand and took a few more steps forward.

"Remi?"

Silence.

"Remi? Are you okay?"

Remi glanced over her shoulder at Amanda, then back at the screen. She pointed to it, specifically at the picture of the blond boy. "That's Zack." She put her hand down slowly. "Wait. He escaped?"


	7. Remi 4

**A/N: Hi everyone! I'm so so sorry that I haven't updated in awhile. I've been so busy with university that I haven't had the time to write, but of course I was able to find the time here and there. Hopefully, I can keep the updates consistent, but I don't think they'll be often, at least until winter break. But here's a super long chapter to make up for it. **

**Enjoy!**

**-Nero**

* * *

Remi stared, wide eyes, at the screen, at the picture of Zack, at his barcode that she knew belonged to him. It took her a moment to come back to reality, thinking about all the ways Zack could've possibly escaped after being tazed by Manticore agents. That was the last time she saw him, from all the way up in the tree she'd decided to climb. She wondered if after he woke up, he started fighting back, escaping that way. Or if the agents left their guard down for one second, and he escaped without being heard. She didn't even know where they took him after they tazed him, but she was relieved to have some evidence that he was alive.

She remembered watching him being dragged out of the woods. She remembered holding her breath because she was afraid that they agents would hear her. She was afraid that she would miss-step and break a loose branch or twig. She was back in that tree, waiting fir the best opportunity to leave it. She waited for hours upon hours.

Once she left the tree, she remembered running towards the metal fence, her bare feet hitting the pact snow with each stride. She tried her best to shrug off the cold.

Remi shivered, a delicate hand resting on her shoulder, Amanda's hand. Remi ducked her head, removing her eyes from the large screen.

"You okay, kiddo?" Amanda asked. Not hearing an answer, she pressed on. "You did a good job, okay? Okay."

Remi turned sharply around and crashed into Amanda in an embrace. Amanda held her close as Remi buried her head in Amanda's chest.

"Okay. Okay." Amanda stroked Remi's red wavys, glancing over at Olivia, who gave her a light nod. Amanda lifted an eye brow, not sure what Olivia's nod meant.

As Nick and Fin disconnected Amanda's lap top from the flat screen, Olivia walked over to Amanda. Olivia's voice made Remi pull slightly away from Amanda's arms.

"I think it would be best for Remi if you took her back to your place. She's endured enough for today," Olivia said. Amanda opened her mouth to protest, but Olivia beat her to it. "I know your shift hasn't ended yet. I'm letting you go home with Remi."

Amanda glanced down at Remi, who was practically clinging to her, then moved her eyes back to Olivia. "You're lettin' me..." She shook her head. "What about ACS?"

"From what I've seen today and from what you've told me about Remi, keeping her in your care, for now, is the best way we can protect her and keep her from being found by whoever is after her," Olivia explained.

"Manticore," Remi muttered.

Both Amanda and Olivia chuckled. "Yes. Manticore."

"And Lydecker?"

Olivia frowned. "I don't—"

"Yes," Amanda butt in," and Lydecker."

Remi stepped out of Amanda's arms. She felt safe here, with Amanda and Olivia, with Fin, at the precinct. Just being at the precinct, spending the night at Amanda's apartment gave her that sense of trust she'd only ever had with her siblings. Even then, it didn't ffeel entirely real. It was the dark environment that they were kept in like they were something less than human. Machines. That was what all of Manticore and Lydecker made her whole unit and probably others seem like. Feel like.

This, this was different, and Remi was starting to like that difference, even if it goes against her nature and all of the seven years of training she endured. But, she was really to start over, finally be free, whatever that means.

Remi smiled up at Amanda and Olivia. "So, we're gonna go home?"

Amanda smiled back and leaned forward to tuck a stray strand of Remi's hair behind her ear. "Yes, honey. We're—"

"Amanda, I actually wanted to speak with you briefly if that's okay," Olivia stepped in.

Amanda nodded hesitantly, then put a hand on Remi's shoulder. "Why don't you go over to Fin and Nick," she pointed to them in the media area, "while I talk with Olivia, okay? Then we'll go," she paused, "home."

"Quick?" Remi asked.

"Quick."

"Okay!" Remi turned and ran over to the oval table Nick and Fin were sitting at. She hopped on to the table as Amanda walked with Olivia to her office. She heard a door close, and looked over at Fin. "Wanna see a trick?"

Fin frowned slightly, not sure what trick Remi could be referring to. Nick also lifted an eye brow, but decided to go along with it as Zara would sometimes do the same thing. "What kind of trick do you have up your sleeve, kid?" Nick asked.

"I can tell you exactly what 'Manda and Olivia are talking about, word for word."

"I don't think eavesdropping is a good idea, Red," Fin said. "They're probably discussin' police business."

Remi tilted her head to the side. "Then why did she only say that she needed to talk to Amanda and not all of you? Besides, I have a feeling they're talking about me. I'm curious."

"How are you going to hear what they're saying from the sergeant's office anyway?' Nick asked.

Remi only chuckled and closed her eyes, tapping into her hypersensitive hearing. It wasn't hard to pick out whose voice was whose. Olivia's voice was like her own, but raspy. Amanda's voice had an accent to it, one she couldn't recognize. Maybe southern.

Amanda: _Thanks for lettin' her stay with me, Liv. I've really gained her trust, This world is so new to her. I thought that I would never get her to open up._

Olivia: _I know you care about her a lot, Amanda. And she seemed to have become attached to you. She would be more safe with you than with ACS._

Silence.

Amanda: _You're gonna have to tell IAB. _

Olivia: _Yes, but considering the circumstances, they'll understand. _

Silence.

Olivia: _I know she's... different. I believe that now. _

A little smile crept up on Remi's face. "They believe me," she muttered.

Olivia: _Having ACS take her would make things worse for her. Her name and face would be documented. Manticore would find her in a snap, assuming that they have the technology to do so. _

Silence.

Olivia: _She wouldn't last a day at ACS. _

Amanda: _What are we gonna do about press?_

Olivia: _We'll just try our best to keep this in the dark. I mean, if this gets out to the press, Remi won't be safe anymore. They will most definitely find her. _

Remi slowly opened her eyes, her face going pale, her eyes expressionless. One slip up, and they'll find her. She tried her best not to imagine it, but all she could see was herself running again. Away from New York, the farthest she could get from Manticore's new base in Seattle. After finally finding someone that believes her and trusts her—

"So Red, what did they say?" Fin asked.

Remi shook her head, coming out of her trance. "What's IAB?"

Fin leaned back in his chair. "It's the abbreviation that stands for the Internal Affairs Bureau."

"Oh."

Olivia's office door opened again, and Amanda stepped out. Remi watched her make her way towards the media area.

"What about ACS?"

"Child Services."

"Oh."

Nick shifted in his chair. "What were they saying?"

Remi swallowed, her eyes staying on Amanda as she came closer to the media area. Amanda met her eye contact, and Remi looked away, suddenly feeling awful for what she did. "They were talking about me, like I thought. They just want to keep me safe."

"Really? That's all? You said word for word," Fin said, and stood from his seat. He started towards his desk, but stopped at Amanda for a moment. "You got an interesting kid here, Rollins."

Amanda sighed. "What does he mean by that, Remi?" She glanced over her shoulder at Fin.

"It's nothing." Remi hopped off the table and walked up to Amanda. "I just wanna go home."

"Okay. We'll go home." Amanda opened her arms out for Remi to climb into, which she did.

* * *

_It'd been a night, one night, and seven-year-old Remi was trekking through the cold of February. She was still wearing her Manticore faded blue night gown, bare feet dragging along the frozen pavement of Gillette, Wyoming streets. _

_The sun was starting to come up through the trees, which made Remi smile a little. She knew then that more cars would be around. Someone would be able to get her out of this cold. She was growing tired of walking in this cold. Her feet hurt, and she just wanted to be wrapped up in a nice warm blanket. She wanted a warm blanket, not like the ones that they used to sleep in on their beds at Manticore. Those were scratchy, and she hated them. _

_Maybe instead of someone pulling over to the side of the road for her, she would find a store or any building really, Maybe one that had food in it. She was getting quite hungry as her stomach would growl on and off._

_A breeze whipped through, and Remi shivered, hugging herself. She rubbed her arms up and down to keep herself warm. It wasn't a blanket, but it was better than nothing at all. Couldn't her and her siblings have escaped Manticore during a warmer season? Maybe then, Remi wouldn't be worried about possibly dying from the below freezing cold. She could get run over by a car before she'd die from hypothermia. How long would that take anyway if she'd learned to adapt to any type of extreme weather?_

_Remi shook her head. She couldn't think about that, shouldn't think like that. _

_After a few more steps, she lifted her head up from staring at the ground, her eyes meeting with a distant sign with large red letters. She didn't know what it said, but didn't care. She finally found a possible warm place where she could stop and hide out for some time. So, she started running, fast. She ignored the few cars driving past. She was just excited that she stumbled upon whatever she was running to. She was tired of walking, over twelve hours worth. _

_She ran for a few minutes, the small shop-looking place coming more into her view. Outside, there were some kind of machines over a roof, but it wasn't inside. An outside roof? She walked closer to this strange machine. There was a screen that was blank and some kind of pump-looking thing. Beside the screen, there were some options and buttons, along with a slot. But for what? She pressed a random button, but nothing happened. She shrugged and started towards the door of this store. _

_Remi opened up the door, and a little bell sounded. A man was standing behind the front counter with some kind of device in his hands. She watched him cautiously as she stepped inside the store, the noise of her foot steps immediately getting the man's attention. He stared at her for a moment before he spoke. _

_"You lookin' for somethin', kid?" _

_Remi blinked and tilted her head to the side. She didn't understand what he was asking. _

_"Where are your parents, huh?"_

_"What are parents?" Remi asked quietly. _

_The store clerk sighed. "You playin' some kind of game?"_

_"No, Sir. I don't play games." Her eyes explored the store, her pupils enlarging so she could take in every little detail. "Do you have a blanket?"_

_"We don't have blankets here, but there's a special drink that could almost instantly warm you up." He came out from behind the counter. "Better than a blanket."_

_Remi followed the clerk to a machine. He grabbed a plastic cup and a packet of something that Remi didn't know the contents of. He opened up the packet and poured a brown powder into the cup. He then placed the cup under the machine's dispenser. _

_"Now this stuff," he pressed a button, and steamy water came out of the machine, "kids love it."_

_Remi watched the cup fill up with water curiously as it changed from clear to a light brown inside the cup. "What is it?" She breathed in through her nose and hummed in content. "Smells good."_

_The machine stopped the water flow, and he picked up the cup from the platform under the machine. He grabbed a straw and stirred the contents in the cup. "Hot chocolate."_

_"What's chocolate?"_

_He handed Remi the cup, and she held it with both hands. She smiled at the warmth she felt coming off of the cup. _

_"Chocolate is a type of candy that people enjoy eating," he said. "But hot chocolate is a drink that people like to have during the colder seasons to keep them warm. Although, most adults just drink coffee."_

_Remi looked down at her hot chocolate drink. "What's candy? And what's coffee?" She shuttered. "Is coffee candy too?"_

_The clerk chuckled. "Candy is a treat. Coffee is a necessity." _

_Remi nodded and hesitantly took a sip of the hot chocolate. She widened her eyes at the amazing taste and started drinking it a bit too fast. _

_"Whoa, slow down, kid. You're gonna burn your tongue," the clerk warned. _

_She stopped and looked at the clerk rather confused. "It's okay. It doesn't burn."_

Remi stared deep into the hot chocolate in the NYPD mug that Amanda had given her. She was sitting on the couch with Frannie, her paws resting on Remi's lap. Amanda had gone to take a shower after she gave Remi the hot chocolate. Maybe she should have asked for milk as on the drive back to Amanda's apartment, her hands started shaking again. She knew, milk has Tryptophan in it.

She listened to the water running and closed her eyes, the sound soothing and calming her worries. She focused on the heat in her hands, then lifting the mug up to take a small sip. In five years, hot chocolate's taste never changed. She thought that it would have changed a little because she hadn't had hot chocolate since that morning at the gas station right after her escape. She felt at peace then with her hot chocolate at the gas station, and now she felt that peace again at Amanda's apartment thousands of miles away from Wyoming. She was safe again.

She pealed one hand off the mug and patted Frannie's head. "I wish you could taste this deliciousness too, Frannie girl. You're really missing out. It's sad that you can only have water, but you know, water is good too even though it doesn't really have a taste." She took another sip. "Back at Manticore, all we could have was water. I didn't know such drinks like hot chocolate existed until I escaped. What was your life like before Amanda saved you?"

Frannie looked up at Remi and yawned before twitching her nose. "Oh." Remi chuckled. "I forgot you can't speak. Maybe I can just ask Amanda. I like hearing stories, you know? They make a great distraction from the real world. My sibs used to tell me stories, especially at night if I couldn't fall asleep. My big sister, Max, made up all these funny stories to make me feel better after a hard day of training. She was the only one in my unit that truly cared about me because I was the baby of the unit. It's kinda like being the runt of a litter. You're the outcast and no one really understands. You're weaker..."

Remi went on, not noticing that the water had stopped running a few minutes ago. "No one wants anything to do with you because you're not like the others." She paused to drink some of her hot chocolate. She kind of forgot that she was even holding it. "I was a burden to them. I always let them down because I wasn't as strong as them, yet my senses, my hearing, was best compared to theirs. They always relied on me for that. I guess that was the only thing they liked about me, the only thing I could contribute."

Although she knew Frannie might not completely understand what she was saying, she knew for sure that the cute pit bull was listening, It made her feel less alone because someone was finally listening without any judgment or doubt. Could dogs judge or feel doubt?

Remi sighed. "You're luck your life is easy, Frannie." Frannie barked and jumped off the couch, running over to somewhere. Remi didn't know where until she looked over her shoulder.

Amanda was standing outside of the bathroom, leaning against the wall, with Frannie sitting patiently at her feet. Her hair was darker than it usually was because it was wet. There was some wavys to it too. She was wearing an NYPD sweatshirt with navy blue athletic shorts. "Frannie loves when people talk to her."

Remi set the mug down on the coffee table, then looked back at Amanda. "How much of that did you hear?" she asked, a bit of fear in her voice. She learned never to let her guard down, and that was exactly what she did without even noticing it.

"Enough to know that none of what you said is true about you." She walked over to Remi and sat down beside her. Frannie went off to her food bowl. "Can I see your hand?"

Remi gave her a confused look. "What?"

Amanda took Remi's bandaged hand in her own. "I need to take this off. Your hand is probably find now."

"Oh. Right."

"You're a fast healer. I don't think you need this anymore." Amanda started unraveling the bandage.

Remi shook her head. "You don't know what I've been through at Manticore. You never will."

"I'm aware of that, but I want to try to understand." Amanda set the bandage and clips on the coffee table by Remi's hot chocolate. She took the gauze off her knuckle, and her eyes widened. "Well, shit." Remi's hand was completely fine. It looked like it was never injured in the first place. No scars or scabs. "Wow."

Remi shrugged it off and pulled her hand out of Amanda's. "It's nothing new."

Amanda set the gauze on top of the bandage on the table with a sigh. "It's still amazing, Remi. Our M.E. would be in complete awe of this."

"As many humans would be." Remi stood from the couch and grabbed her mug with one hand and the used gauze in another. The mug wasn't empty, but she didn't want anymore hot chocolate. She went into the kitchen and threw out the gauze.

"I gave Olivia the picture of her that you drew," Amanda said, staring down at her lap.

"What about it?" Remi set her mug down in the sink and turned on the water. She watched as the water filled up the mug and the left over hot chocolate overflowed.

"She loved it. Told me that she would hang it somewhere in her office."

Remi hummed and picked up the mug to pour out the water. She started to fill it up again.

"When I told her that you've never drawn anything before, she was so surprised. Almost couldn't believe it." Amanda glanced over at Remi. She poured the water out of the mug again, then refilling it. "You know, you don't have to do that."

Remi shrugged and tilted the mug again, water flowing back down the sink. She wanted to make sure that all of the chocolate residue was out. She didn't know how to clean a dish, but she was trying her best. Water swished around in the mug as it filled again. This time, she wasn't able to pour it out as she trembled, the mug slipping out of her grasp and into the sink.

Amanda shot up from the couch at the crash and rushed over to Remi at the sink. Remi was staring at the broken mug in the sink as if she was in some kind of trance. "Remi..." Amanda touched the girl's arm, which made her jump back. "It's okay. That's not my only mug."

Remi looked away from the sink and down at her hands, which had started to shake. She could care less about Amanda's now broken mug. What scared her was what caused her to drop the mug: the beginning of a seizure episode. Remi's cheeks lost all of its color at the realization. Now, she really wished she'd asked for milk instead of hot chocolate. That could have at least stalled it for a little more time.

"Honey?" Amanda said, sounding concerned at the lack of response from Remi. "Are you okay?"

Remi swallowed hard and shuttered. "I think I need to sit down," she mumbled.

"Okay. Okay." Amanda wrapped her arm around Remi's shoulders and guided her to the couch, sitting her down. Frannie followed and sat on the floor in front of the couch. She barked. "Frannie, shhh. Not now." But she barked again and pawed at Remi's leg. Amanda sighed and turned all of her attention to Remi. "What's goin' on, huh?"

"I j-just d-don't feel good." Remi trembled. She was shaking like she had the chills, but she knew that it wasn't just the chills.

Amanda frowned. "Here," she grabbed a throw pillow from the chair next to the couch and set it at one end of the couch. "Why don't you lay down?"

Remi nodded slightly and slowly lay down, her hand landing on the throw pillow.

"Your... condition is doing this to you?" Amanda asked, kneeling down to be at the same height as Remi.

"Th-this is always h-how i-it st-starts, m-my seizures," Remi stuttered, and held her hand out weakly towards Amanda.

Amanda took her hand and gave her a small smile, her thumb rubbing over Remi's knuckle. "You'll be okay, okay? You'll be okay." Amanda ran her free hand over Remi's temple and through her hair. "You'll be okay."


End file.
